Introduction
The first PDF featured in this series is one we referenced previously in our Planet PDF Weblog.
Number of pages: 44 Original file size: 20.38 MB Original Application: Unknown, but likely Adobe Illustrator or similar Original PDF Production: Adobe Acrobat Distiller 5.05 Revised file size: 763 kb Size reduction after review: 96.25%
Primary Concern: File size.
Secondary Concern: The lack of searchable text renders the file ‘invisible’ to search engines. The lack of document metadata compounds this issue.
Other Issues: The lack of bookmarks requires the user to flip through the pages to locate the information they seek.
Reviewer’s Notes: Due to the file-creation method, it was necessary to convert
the file to raster images — essentially, printing and scanning — before reprocessing. Size could
have been further reduced by another 30 percent through conversion of the tables in the document to
PDF/Formatted Text & Graphics. For review purposes, however, the tables were retained as images.
Key Recommendations: Adjust application and PDF creation settings to produce text
based instead of artwork-based files. Basic adjustments to the file creation method would have
delivered a file of less than two percent of the original size with no additional work.
Additionally, bookmarks should be added to longer published documents to assist the user in
locating the information they seek.
PDF File Attribute Analysis: Before & After
NOTE: See a Glossary of Terms used in the chart below.
| Attribute | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Qualities | ||
| PDF Subtype | Vector Art | Formatted Text & Graphics |
| Searchable Text | No | Yes |
| Fast Web View | Yes | Yes |
| Version Compatibility | Acrobat 4 | Acrobat 4 |
| Fonts/Images/Appearance | ||
| Font Handling | None | Embedded/Base 14 |
| Bi-tonal Image Compression | N/A | N/A |
| Bi-tonal Image Resolution | N/A | N/A |
| Color/Grayscale Image Type | Vector Art | JPEG |
| Color/Grayscale Image Resolution | N/A | Medium (Photoshop 7) |
| Initial View | Page Only | Bookmarks and Page |
| Page Orientation | Mixed | Corrected for on-screen view |
| Page Layout (Initial) | Mixed | Single Page (Fit Page) |
| *Tagged For Enhanced Accessibility | No | No |
| Identification | ||
| Metadata Fields | Empty | Filled |
| Document Display in Title Bar | File Name | File Title |
| **Google PDF Quality Index | N/A | Excellent |
| Navigation/Interactive Features | ||
| Form Fields | N/A | N/A |
| Bookmarks | No | Yes |
| Internal Links | No | No (No Table of Contents) |
| URLs in document linked | No | Yes |
| Other Features | N/A | N/A |
| Security | ||
| Secured against change | No | Yes |
| Secured against content extraction | No | Yes |
| Acrobat/Reader version required to open | Acrobat/Reader 4.0 | Acrobat/Reader 4.0 |
* Tagging ensures compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and is required for
Federal Government documents. Tagging this file for demonstration purposes was outside the scope of
this review.
** Google PDF Quality Index (GPQI) is the reviewer’s measure of the likelihood of satisfactory
results when the file is indexed by the Google search engine.
